Furniture store employee sentenced for co-worker's murder

Jose Eladio Martinez, 41, was sentenced after making a plea deal in the slaying of Ai- leen Harbidge.

Jose Eladio Martinez, 41, was sentenced after making a plea deal in...

SAN ANTONIO — An Ashley Furniture Store employee who fatally shot his ex-girlfriend co-worker then confessed to his ex-wife about half an hour later has been sentenced to 30 years in prison.

Jose Eladio Martinez, 41, fled San Antonio in a stolen pickup after shooting Aileen Yamilet Harbidge, 27, twice in the back inside the store at Interstate 10 and De Zavala Road, according to court files. He was arrested on May 13, 2011, a day after the shooting, at the home of a family member in Midland.

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He reached a plea agreement Tuesday in the 437th state District Court.

Martinez's ex-wife called police the day of the shooting to tell them what he had confessed to her on the phone, according to court documents. She also admitted to meeting him that morning, at his request, and giving him $200.

Martinez told his ex-wife he used his employee code to go into the store early that morning and disarm the security cameras, according to court records.

On the day before the shooting, Martinez borrowed the murder weapon, a .40-caliber Glock, from a co-worker under the guise of using it for target practice, authorities said. That same day, Harbidge had talked to her roommate about her fear of Martinez, saying she was “scared to go to work” because he had been “getting in her face.”

Harbidge was found on the floor of the furniture store by co-workers who unsuccessfully attempted to revive her. Her family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the franchise in 2011, alleging the company knew of Martinez's violent past and failed to protect Harbidge.

Court records indicate the pair had a “volatile” relationship and that in the past Martinez had beaten a different ex-girlfriend, breaking several of her bones. The suit ended in a settlement.